Sevenths
C major 7th chord
Lush and mellow — a signature sound of jazz, soul and bossa nova.
Cmaj7 is the Imaj7 chord in C major and IVmaj7 in G major. In minor keys: IIImaj7 in A minor and VImaj7 in E minor.
- Notes
- CEGB
- Formula
- 1357
- Built from
- root · major 3rd · perfect 5th · major 7th
How to play Cmaj7
About the C major 7th chord
Cmaj7 adds a B to C major for a mellow, dreamy color heard throughout jazz, bossa nova and soft rock.
Playing it
On guitar, Cmaj7 is one of the friendlier shapes: x32000 needs just two fingers and lets the open strings ring. Don’t strum the low E string.
On piano, Cmaj7 sits entirely on white keys.
On ukulele it takes a single finger (0002), which makes Cmaj7 one of the simplest chords on the instrument.
Related chords
Take away the root and the other three notes form Em (E G B) — so you can think of Cmaj7 as Em with C added underneath.
Move a single note and Cmaj7 becomes a different chord: drop the B for C, lower B to B♭ for C7, swap B for A for C6 and swap B for D for Cadd9.
Where you’ll hear it
You’ll find Cmaj7 in common progressions such as Dm7–G7–Cmaj7 (the jazz cadence in C major).
